1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a board mounted electrical connector, more specifically to a connector with a configuration similar to that found in connectors used for a High-Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) standard or a DisplayPort standard.
2. Description of Related Art
As is known, I/O connectors face competing demands. On the one hand, there is a common desire to provide more dense packing of terminals. On the other hand, there is an increasing desire for the data channels in the I/O connector to function at higher frequencies. These competing desires make it challenging to optimize a connector.
While the general desires are challenging, certain configurations of connectors need to be particularly dense because they are intended to be very small. For example, when the density of terminals is increased so that that the pitch between terminals is reduced below 0.7 mm pitch, for example, the design of the connector becomes challenging and as the pitch is reduced below 0.6 mm, certain methods of mounting the connector (such as the use of thru-holes) becomes more difficult because the vias cannot be positioned close enough. Thus, for very small pitch connectors such as connectors with a 0.4 mm pitch between terminals, surface mount technology basically becomes required. Even with surface mount technology, however, it is difficult to provide a desirable signal transmission between the mating interface and the mounting interface because the proximity of the terminals makes it easy for energy moving through terminals to negatively affect the signals on other terminals (e.g., introduce unwanted noise). Furthermore, the size of the terminals makes it more difficult to provide a robust connector design that is suitable for use in designs where a relatively high number of insertion cycles are desired. Therefore, further improvements in the design of a connector would be appreciated.